Patrick Hamill passes

By Dan Hilborn and Julie MacLellan
Published Jan. 26, 2005


One of the most successful businessmen in the city of Burnaby passed away suddenly in Royal Columbian Hospital in the early hours of Monday morning.

Patrick Edward Hamill, the founder and former president and chief executive officer of Taiga Forest Products, was a longtime city resident. He grew a family-run lumber mill into the largest wholesale distributor of forest products in Canada, with sales of well over $1 billion last year.

"His favourite pastime was business - he loved that," said his wife and childhood sweetheart Mary Ann Hamill. "He was raised to be a priest, but he had different convictions. He used to say that a priest who lives in a lofty ivory tower is not much use to anyone, and he felt that priests had to be out in business, married with children and having a business run properly.

"That's why he started profit-sharing. He was a fair and good man, and people loved him."

Hamill was named the Burnaby Board of Trade Business Person of the Year for 2001, one of many such honours he received throughout his lifetime of service.

"He was always such a busy man," said Norm Blain, CEO of the board of trade. After his retirement at the age of 71, Hamill "rolled up his sleeves and got involved," bringing his keen sense of business acumen and strategic thinking to various board of trade committees, Blain said.

Hamill's longtime executive assistant, Donna Mohan, said the most striking thing about Taiga Forest Products is that it always put the interests of its employees ahead of profits.

"People always came first, and anyone who ever worked with him knows that," Mohan said. "He always had an open door policy, and whenever someone came to talk to him, whether it was one of the guys from the yard or in upper management, he'd always stop what he was doing, greet them and ask them how it's going."

Blain said Hamill's sudden death came as a shock to his friends and family.

"I spoke to him last week and he sounded wonderful," Blain said.

The family is planning a public memorial service at Forest Lawn this weekend, after which there will be a private service at Yellow Point Lodge in Ladysmith on Vancouver Island, where he celebrated his 73rd birthday on New Year's Eve.